Child marriage in West and Central Africa is one of the biggest challenges in the region and has enormous adverse effects on education, health, including sexual and reproductive health, and on the overall development of adolescents and youth. This brochure provides recent data and analysis of child marriage in the region.

This position paper presents several strong arguments about why it is imperative to address child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, if we want to succeed in harnessing the demographic dividend in West and Central Africa. It also provides recommendations on the key actions different stakeholder groups can take to make this a reality.

The global trend towards smaller families is a reflection of people making reproductive choices to have as few or as many children as they want, when they want. When people lack choice, it can have a long-term impact on fertility rates, often making them higher or lower than what most people desire.

This document presents recommended core questions to support harmonised monitoring of WASH in schools as part of the SDGs. The questions map to harmonised indicator definitions of “basic” service and to service ladders that can be used to monitor progress. They are intended for use in national or sub-national facility surveys and census questionnaires. If national and sub-national surveys use the questions and response categories in this guide, it will help to improve survey comparability over time and between countries, as well as harmonise data with the SDG definitions for WASH in schools.

On World AIDS Day 2018, HIV testing is being brought into the spotlight. And for good reason. Around the world, 37 million people are living with HIV, the highest number ever, yet a quarter do not know that they have the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are responsible for monitoring global progress towards water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. The global effort to achieve sanitation and water for all by 2030 is extending beyond the household to include institutional settings, such as schools, healthcare facilities and workplaces. This joint report is the first comprehensive global assessment of WASH in schools and establishes a baseline for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) period.

In January 2018, UNESCO, together with UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, and the WHO, completed the substantial technical and political process of updating the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, thereby unifying a UN position on rationale, evidence, and guidance on designing and delivering comprehensive sexuality education (CSE).

Without addressing HIV-related stigma and discrimination, the world will not achieve the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The global partnership’s goal is to reach zero HIV-related stigma and discrimination. An opportunity to harness the combined power of governments, civil society and the United Nations, the global partnership will work together, using the unique skills of each constituency, to consign HIV-related stigma and discrimination to history.

Girls are subject to child marriage, female genital mutilation and limited education and as such, are denied equality of opportunities. At the beginning of 2016, the African Union Heads of State and Government underlined a commitment to put young people and women first by agreeing to focus on “Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth” throughout 2017 and beyond. UNFPA in West and Central Africa recognizes the critical importance of investing in adolescents and youth, particularly adolescent girls. …

The guide builds on the World Health Organization (WHO) School Policy Framework on Diet and Physical Activity. It is a practical instrument that facilitates the adoption, adaptation and operationalization of the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (DPAS) School Policy Framework. It focuses on governmental action to improve dietary practice and increase physical activity in the school setting at national and subnational levels through action on environment, behaviour and education. …

This report presents an assessment of school feeding policies and institutions that affect young children in Jordan. The analysis is based on a World Bank tool developed as part of the Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER)an initiative that aims to systematically assess education systems against evidence-based global standards and good practice to assist countries in reforming their education systems for proper learning for all. …